Not as smooth as many other song-to–picture book titles; harmless but ultimately unsatisfying.
Minchin’s affecting song from the Tony Award–winning musical Matilda gets the picture book treatment.
“When I grow up, I will be / tall enough to reach / the branches that / I have to reach // to climb the trees you get to climb // when you’re grown-up.” Three grayscale children (one with cropped hair and pale skin, one with long hair in a ponytail and glasses, and one with darker skin and two curly puffs) in shorts, T-shirts, and sneakers journey through increasingly whimsical double-page spreads. Imagining the freedoms of adulthood, the children fantasize about loading grocery carts with “treats” and battling “the creatures that you have to fight beneath the bed each night to be a grown-up.” The final spread shows the original trio at dusk under a large tree, looking wistfully at the branches: “When I grow up. / When I grow up. / When I grow up.” Spreads in dusty pastels sometimes clash with the children’s bold, primary-colored outfits, but they otherwise create a pleasant calm. The illustrations portray a relatively diverse array of characters, including children who use wheelchairs and children with varying hair textures and (gray) skin tones. Unfortunately, however, without the melody and the context of the musical, the bittersweet poignancy of the song is lost and the lyrics fall flat.
Not as smooth as many other song-to–picture book titles; harmless but ultimately unsatisfying. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: March 27, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-338-23384-1
Page Count: 30
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Jan. 21, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2018
The passing on of a traditional art from grandparent to grandchild is a worthy topic, but this short book provides too quick...
What happens when a young city girl wakes up early in her grandma’s village?
In the courtyard, she sees a large design of wavy lines enclosed in squares. There are graceful half-circles and curvilinear designs forming diamonds and teardrops. Grandma tells her about the custom of mixing rice flour and sugar and inviting ants and birds to share in this bounty as a good deed. Adding colored dyes, women create intricate designs to beautify exterior walls, courtyards and streets. The girl sees the designs everywhere. She wonders: “Where will I do a rangoli at our flat in the city?” Using a slate and chalk, Grandma demonstrates a design that she can replicate in her apartment hallway. The watercolor-and-pastel illustrations vary from full-bleed double-page spreads to smaller panels; some illustrations feature cartoonlike, wide-eyed people and animals, and others focus on the rangoli, both geometric and pictorial. Outside of the subtitle, there is no mention of place, although the illustrations picture Indian life. In India, where this book was originally published, this art may have seemed familiar. Here, children with no prior knowledge may still be intrigued by the designs and the custom, to which this slim book is a brief introduction.
The passing on of a traditional art from grandparent to grandchild is a worthy topic, but this short book provides too quick a glimpse of India and no real story development. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-84780-179-1
Page Count: 20
Publisher: Frances Lincoln
Review Posted Online: Nov. 1, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2011
A pretty, sturdy-enough bedtime story, but not more. (Picture book. 3-5)
Lewis (I Love You Like Crazy Cakes, 2000) pens 15 rhythmic quatrains designed to lull a child to sleep.
A mother readies a little girl for bed, promising a night of adventures. “Nighttime says a quick ‘Sleep tight’ / To the fading morning glories— / Then wakes up all the moonflowers / And listens to their stories.” Succeeding verses present woodland vignettes focused on mice, moths, crickets and other nocturnal creatures. Before the concluding tuck-in, there’s a six-page interstice about daytime, as Mr. Moon nods off: “Say good morning to Miss Sunshine / And the company she keeps.” The cadences sometimes bump, and sense is occasionally sacrificed for rhyme: “The butterflies have gone to sleep, / Their wings no longer flapping, / Making room for the nighttime moths, / Their soft gray wings now tapping.” Corace’s full-bleed watercolors often charm: Three nested owlets await mother’s return in a many-branched, stylized tree against a turquoise sky bright with stars. Creatures bear little relationship in size, either within or between the double spreads; the moon’s shadowed side shifts from right to left and back. The teal-and-sepia–dominated palette suits the subject. Contrasting large, opaque color fields with details of animal and plant life and playing visually with indoor/outdoor motifs like toy and real animals, the pictures try to do too much.
A pretty, sturdy-enough bedtime story, but not more. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: March 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4197-0189-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: Dec. 20, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2012
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